Tea 101 Part 2 - Flavonoid

In part one I told you about why you should drink lukewarm tea, not hot, and how using tea bags can help your puffy eyes. Now let's see the benefits of teas and apples.

Regular tea drinkers, people who drink two cups or more a day, are less likely to have trouble with atherosclerosis, bad (LDL) cholesterol, prevent skin cancer, inflammatory bowel disease, diabetes, liver disease, weight loss, neurodegenerative diseases, and even halitosis (bad breath). They also are known to recover from heart attacks faster. Tea may help boost metabolism to block allergic response, slow the growth of tumors, protect bones, improve skin, protect against Parkinson's disease, and even delay the onset of diabetes.

There was a study of bladder cancer cells and green tea extract. Green tea seemed to make the cancer cells behave strangely. They matured sooner, bound together tightly, and had a hard time multiplying.

Some people say that you have to drink 10 cups of black or green tea a day to get the amount you needed to stay well.

To me that is a lot of tea. I still want a healthy drink so in the afternoons I change over to apple juice. Apples have a lot going for them.

Apples have a flavanoid called phloridzin that is found only in apples and may protect post-menopausal women from osteoporosis and may also increase bone density. Boron, another ingredient in apples, also strengthens bones. Children with asthma who drank apple juice on a daily basis suffered from less wheezing than children who drank apple juice only once per month. Another study showed that children born to women who eat a lot of apples during pregnancy have lower rates of asthma than children whose mothers ate few apples. Quercetin in apples may protect brain cells from the kind of free radical damage that may lead to Alzheimer's disease. The pectin in apples lowers LDL cholesterol. Eat two apples per day may lower their cholesterol by as much as 16 percent. People who eat apples have a lower their risk of developing lung, breast, colon and liver cancer, because of the flavonoids, quercetin and naringin in apples. It also helps with heart disease and support lung health.

Apple juice that contains apple pulp found in whole apples is clearly better for your cardiovascular system than "clear" apple juice since so much of the fiber and antioxidant and flavonoid content are contained in the pulp. Whole fresh apples are better than juice or canned apples.

As I said in "Tea 101 Part 1 - Hot, Cold or Lukewarm," I do not like putting sugar or honey in my tea. I use apple juice instead.